


The struggles of being single dads

by HotCat37



Series: Zanark and the side-effects of fucking with time travelling [2]
Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Annoying Kids, Because Ryouma is clumsy as hell lol, Good parent Nishiki Ryouma, M/M, Protective Zanark Avalonic, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Which ends in disaster but y'know, Zanark brooding over time travel, hotdogs, playdate, shitty nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29265390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotCat37/pseuds/HotCat37
Summary: Little Ryouma looks surprised to see him, even though Big Zanark must've told him he was coming over. Zanark glowers down at the brunette, hidden behind Ryouma's leg."Be nice!" Ryouma whispers to him.Zanark completely ignores him, sticking out his tongue at the other child and putting an L shape on his forehead.Or, the one where Zanark and Ryouma arrange a chaotic playdate.
Relationships: Zanark Avalonic/Nishiki Ryouma
Series: Zanark and the side-effects of fucking with time travelling [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089782
Comments: 6
Kudos: 3





	The struggles of being single dads

Ryouma stands before the small apartment, Zanark's hand in his.

"What are we doing here?" Zanark grumbles, looking rather unimpressed with the building.

"I told you it's a play date.... We're meeting up with those nice guys from yesterday!" Ryouma explains joyfully.

"The ones that look like us?"

"Yeah!"

"The other Ryouma is a loser! He's the idiot that went down the slide while I was still getting off of it....." Zanark crosses his arms, eyebrows furrowing together at the memory.

"You can't just go around beating people up because they made a mistake!" Ryouma lightly hits the kid on the back of his head. "I want you to apologize to him."

"No way!"

"Yes way! Do it or I'll take away your toy cars for an entire week."

It's a threat Ryouma knows he won't be able to live up to, but he figures he'll try anyways. It gets Zanark to shut up at least. Ryouma presses the bell, waiting patiently for the door to swing open.

Big Zanark appears in a bath robe that hangs open around his chest. Ryouma feels his face flush a little before his feelings start to become conflicting.

It's too weird. That hot, adult Zanark looks scarily similar to _his_ Zanark. 

"You're early." Big Zanark notes.

"It's 11:59." Ryouma simply says in response.

"Whatever......" Big Zanark yawns, slicking back his wet hair and motioning for Ryouma to follow him inside. 

"Let's go!" Ryouma smiles down reassuringly at Zanark when he feels the other squeeze his hand.

"Okay."

The apartment is pretty nice. Not big, but it's cozy and has good vibes. Well, at least, Ryouma doesn't feel like he's about to get beat up or scammed. 

"So, uh, aren't you a little too young to be a parent? How old are you, anyways?" Ryouma attempts to strike up a conversation as he follows Big Zanark through the hallway.

"Twenty." Big Zanark replies, tone bored and uninterested.

"Cool! I'll be twenty in a couple months too." Ryouma grins excitedly.

"Good for you." 

Ryouma nearly trips over a toy apple laying on the ground, Big Zanark catching him just in time.

"RYOUMA! Goddamn it I told you not to leave your stuff on the floor!" Big Zanark yells into the living room, where the kid in question is sitting on the carpet.

Toys and plushies are everywhere. It's a mess. Ryouma can just smell Zanark's jealousy flaring when he sees all the sparkly Pokémon cards lying around. 

"Stop yelling at me!!!" Little Ryouma shouts back, the slight lisp in his voice now clearer. Ryouma can see a clear gap in his mini version's teeth. 

"Ugh....seriously....." Big Zanark mumbles more to himself than anyone else. The short temper reminds Ryouma of Midori, their reaction to kids leaving stuff on the floor is almost identical.

"Hi!" Ryouma waves at the 7-year old.

Little Ryouma looks surprised to see him, even though Big Zanark must've told him he was coming over. Zanark glowers down at the brunette, hidden behind Ryouma's leg.

"Be nice!" Ryouma whispers to him.

Zanark completely ignores him, sticking out his tongue at the other child and putting an L shape on his forehead.

That's kid language for 'loser'. He only knows it because Midori told him that Zanark pointing an L at him doesn't stand for love.

Little Ryouma, for his part, doesn't look all that offended. Rather, he gestures for Zanark to come over, taking his kid off guard.

"You play Pokémon too, right?? I can tell by your gloves!" Little Ryouma points out Zanark's black and red finger-less gloves.

Zanark had insisted on wearing them today. They're kind of his lucky charm. Ryouma doesn't have the heart to tell him those are the gloves Ash Ketchum wears, the same protagonist Zanark relentlessly makes fun of whenever he watches the show.

"........" Zanark doesn't say anything, still not trusting the situation. Ryouma wonders if it's normal for a kid this young to be so overly cautious about everything.

Still, he steps away from Ryouma and heads over to where the fellow Pokémon fanatic is sitting, who's already chatting on and on about his exclusive Pikachu card.

Big Zanark keeps an eye on them for a few more seconds before he waves Ryouma into the kitchen.

There's hotdogs boiling in a pot and sandwiches lying spread over the table. There's a variety of sauces too, some of which Ryouma doesn't even recognize. 

Zanark has come up with a few theories about how it might've happened. The one that makes the most sense to him is that as his bike was malfunctioning, Ryouma might've accidentally gotten on his course. Zanark's heard stories of people being send to wrong time periods if they get too close to a time traveler's course, but he's never seen it in person before. After all, Ryouma did mention back then that one moment he was just with his mom and the next he woke up in the bushes close to Zanark's bike.

Not to mention how shocked the kid looked when Zanark had told him the year was 2014.

But then how did this miniature version of Zanark end up in this year? It seems that adult Ryouma is in the right time period, but for Zanark's past self to get teleported in the same time period as him doesn't make much sense. Unless, the timeline tried to fix itself by sending little Zanark to the same year....?

Time traveling can be tricky. Zanark's been doing it for years now but there's still so many things about it he doesn't understand or know of.

"So, uh....." Oh. _Right._

Zanark turns to an awkward-looking adult Ryouma, who must've stood there the whole time Zanark was fantasizing about different theories. 

"First thing's first, we need to fix the name issue." Zanark announces.

"The.....name issue?" Adult Ryouma doesn't seem to understand what he's getting at.

"Ryouma!" Zanark barks.

Instinctively, adult Ryouma looks up at the sound of his name at the same time kid Ryouma makes a noise of acknowledgment. 

"Oh.....I get it." Ryouma mutters, a bit slow.

"We could give the little brats nicknames or somethin'. I ain't gonna call you adult Ryouma in my head forever." Zanark simply says, cutting open a sandwich and smearing mustard between it.

Ryouma does the same, pouring a significant amount of ketchup on a sandwich because he knows his Zanark loves the taste of it.

"Alright, sounds good!" Ryouma nods in agreement. 

Zanark fishes a hotdog out of the boiling water, then yells for the kids to come over. 

"Lunchtime, shitheads." Zanark grunts at the two.

"Oi, watch your language!" Ryouma lightly elbows the other man in his side, then drops the hotdog he made onto his kid's paper plate.

"Ay, Ryouma. I'm callin' you Ryou from now on, got it?" Zanark tells the child, whose face is already covered in mustard.

"Okay!" Ryou doesn't seem to question the random change of events. Maybe he's already used to Zanark deciding things out of nowhere.

"I'm calling you Zanny, then!" Ryouma tells his kid upbeat.

Zanny nearly chokes on his food, staring at Ryouma like he's lost his mind.

"Are you crazy???? That's not badass at all!" Zanny's previous quiet attitude is replaced with his usual loudness in a matter of seconds. Ryouma thinks it's quite funny how easy it is to rile him up.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad. I think it's kind of cute!" Saying that only makes Zanny angrier, as he's now thrown his hotdog against his plate in a fit of annoyance. 

"It's dumb! I don't wanna have a cute name! I wanna be badass!" Zanny slumps in his seat, arms crossed and pouting.

Tch. Zanark wonders how in the world his parents ever dealt with these temper tantrums. 

"BAHAHA!" Zanark laughs boisterously, startling the pouting child. "I guess you're too weak for such a name, after all!"

"Huh? What'dya mean??" Zanny looks indignant at the comment.

"Where I'm from, Zanny means warrior. It's even _cooler_ than Zanark, dipshit." Zanark huffs, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. 

"Then, again, if you want to keep being called Zanark, I guess I could be Za-"

"NO!" Zanny shrieks in bewilderment. "Ryouma! I'm Zanny now!"

Ryouma can't help but snort at how easy Zanark managed to convince the normally difficult child. If the idea wasn't absolutely crazy, Ryouma would've almost thought that Zanark is Zanny's future self.

But....surely that's ridicilous. It can't be. 

"Now shut up and eat your hotdogs, the adults are talking." Zanark gives Ryou an irritated glare when the brunette is about to shout something again. 

What a hyperactive child. Ryou is squirting mustard left and right, swinging his legs and simultaneously talking to Zanny. 

"Outside." Zanark ominously says.

"Got it...." Ryouma trails after him and follows the other man into his backyard.

It's pretty small and square. But just like the apartment, cozy-looking. There's an inflatable pool with a rubber duck floating in the water. The two of them sit in the plastic chairs next to the pool.

"So.....any theories?" Zanark asks him.

Ryouma perks up, excited to share the one theory he thought of. 

"Y'know how everyone has at least two doppelgangers around the world, right? I thought it was total rubbish at first too, but now look at the evidence here! They literally look exactly like 7-year old versions of us!" Ryouma keeps talking, barely taking a breath in between. Zanark has to try and concentrate really hard to understand what the fuck he's saying. 

"Okay slow do-"

"And so basically, that would mean that-"

"RYOUMA!"

Ryouma jumps at the sudden interruption, abruptly shutting his mouth. Zanark ruffles a hand through his hair with a sigh. He's become more patient over the years, but dealing with a hyperactive child 24 hours a day really takes a toll on someone's sanity. 

"Look, it's not a super crazy theory, but explain how the hell they also share the same name as we do?" Zanark points out boredly. 

"I uh.....didn't think 'bout that." Ryouma sheepishly admits. 

Zanark blatantly cackles at the look on Ryouma's face. Ryouma's frown deepens, which only further adds to the other's amusement. 

"Pfft okay thanks for laughing at me....." Ryouma crosses his arms, cheeks darkening in embarrassment. 

Zanark keeps laughing in that annoying fashion of his. It's the kind of laugh that makes Ryouma feel like he's known this guy since forever, even though they just met yesterday. It sounds a little bit like Zanny's, but it's not like his kid laughs out loud that much in the first place. 

Zanark's bath robe hangs open even more now, Ryouma tries his hardest not to stare. But it's no secret Zanark has a killer body. 

He shakes his head. It's _still_ too weird. 

Zanark catches him looking and smirks. 

"Like what you see?" The menace flexes his muscles arrogantly.

"Shut up! Don't you have any theories yourself?" Ryouma puffs, the summer heat slowly becoming unbearable.

For a moment Zanark looks like he's about to say something, but he ends up reconsidering last second instead. 

"I don't have any." Zanark shrugs. 

"Why do I feel like you're hiding something?" Ryouma gives him a suspicious look.

Zanark loses his temper. **Again.**

"What're you trying to imply, huh?! That I'm lying??" Zanark shakes Ryouma by the collar of his shirt.

"Zanaaaark!" A yell interrupts their quarrel. 

The green-haired man silently lets go of him and rubs at his tired eyes. 

"Comin'!" He shouts back. 

Ryouma can't help but feel sorry for him. It's not easy being a single dad, he knows that more than anyone else. But at least he has Midori to help him out, so far Zanark hasn't mentioned anything about a partner or a wife or whatever. 

"I'll take this one." Ryouma offers, clapping Zanark on the back in a friendly gesture.

The other looks surprised, watching in mild confusion as Ryouma walks back into the apartment.

"What's the problem?" The two kids stare up at him with determined eyes. 

"We want dessert!" Ryou cheerfully tells him. 

"Alright! What do you guys want for dessert?" Ryouma rummages through the cupboards for anything edible. 

"Ice-cream!" Zanny demands, though less aggressive and more excited than usual.

"What's the magic word?" Ryouma teases as he opens the top half of the freezer.

".....please."

Zanny isn't the most easy child to raise, but it's not all bad. Ryouma hums to himself as he fetches the cherry-flavored popsicles. As he goes to turn around, though, one of the popsicles slips from his hand and lands right on Ryou's head.

There's a beat of silence before the crying starts.

From the looks of it, Ryou seems to be crying mostly out of shock rather than pain. Ryouma remembers how as a kid he didn't cry much out of pain either. Another thing that's creepily similair to this smaller version of him.....

"Shit, sorry, are you okay?" Ryouma kneels down beside the wailing kid. 

"Crybaby." Zanny simply says.

"Zanny! Don't be so insensi-"

Ryouma is lifted right off the ground by a less than pleased looking Zanark. Dark red eyes burn into his brown ones.

"What did you _do?"_ Zanark has a glare that could kill, Ryouma gulps.

"Wait, wait! It's not what you-"

"Let go of him!!" Zanny has even less patience than his counterpart, kicking Zanark between the legs.

Ryouma cringes at the flash of pain he gets to see in Zanark's eyes before the other man doubles over. 

This isn't Ryouma's definition of a peaceful playdate.

"Zanny! You can't just kick someone in the, uh, nuts!" Ryouma scolds the hell-spawn demon, stretching his cheeks as a form of punishment.

"Oww! Why not?? He was attacking you!" Zanny defends.

"Well, okay, but uhm kicking someone in the nuts can have lasting consequences! You shouldn't do it!" 

"Whatever." Zanny grabs the popsicle from Ryouma's hand and goes to sit at the kitchen table.

Ugh. Kids.

Speaking of which-

"You alright there, champ? Sorry 'bout that....." Ryouma picks Ryou up and sets him down in his chair, handing him his dessert. Miraculously, it's not broken.

"It's okay!" Almost as if nothing happened, Ryou is back to his usual cheerful self, smiling in delight when Ryouma pats him on the head.

".....you good?" Ryouma cringes all over again when he turns to look at where Zanark is still on the ground. 

"The pain is indescribable." Zanark tells the checkered floor.

"I can imagine."

"That little shit of yours is out of control......" Zanark grumbles, sounding more defeated than angry, as shocking as it may seem.

"Hey, he's not _that_ bad!" There's not a lot of confidence in his voice when he says it, though.

The little shit in question watches Zanark still in pain with a smug smile on his face. 

".....sorry for freakin' out by the way. I gotta chill...." Ryouma startles when he says it, not expecting an apology from someone like Zanark.

"It's alright, I get it. Dad instinct, right?" Ryouma helps Zanark get up, offering him a gentle smile.

".....yeah, I guess." 

That's the simple way of putting it. Zanark has come to accept overtime that he'd do absolutely anything to keep that little twerp safe, even if it might result in him overreacting at times. If this Ryouma is anything like his past(?) self, Zanark doesn't have anything to worry about.

That little fucker, Zanny, though..... He's gotta keep an eye on that one. 

More than anything, he needs to make sure Zanny doesn't turn out just like him.


End file.
